Macroeconomic Policy and Elections in OECD Democracies
| Title: | Macroeconomic Policy and Elections in OECD Democracies |
| Author: |
Roubini, Nouriel; Cohen, Gerald; Alesina, Alberto
Note: Order does not necessarily reflect citation order of authors. |
| Citation: | Alesina, Alberto, Gerald D. Cohen, and Nouriel Roubini. 1992. Macroeconomic policy and elections in OECD democracies. Economics & Politics 4(1): 1-30. |
| Full Text & Related Files: |
alesina_macroeconomicoecd.pdf (468.1Kb; PDF) 
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| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to test for evidence of opportunistic "political business cycles" in a large sample of 18 OECD economies. Our results can be summarized as follows: 1) We find very little evidence of pre-electoral effects on economic outcomes, in particular, on GDP growth and unemployment; 2) We see some evidence of "political monetary cycles," that is, expansionary monetary policy in election years; 3) We also observe indications of "political budget cycles," or "loose" fiscal policy prior to elections; 4) Inflation exhibits a post-electoral jump, which could be explained by either the pre-electoral "loose" monetary and fiscal policies and/or by an opportunistic timing of increases in publicly controlled prices, or indirect taxes. |
| Published Version: | doi:10.1111/j.1468-0343.1992.tb00052.x |
| Terms of Use: | This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#LAA |
| Citable link to this page: | http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4553023 |
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